Where are all the Alleggerita Giuliettas...

[clemensh83]

Hi folks!

Because my dad owned for quite a long time a original 750E Giulietta SV Alleggerita (the first delivered to Germany in April 1956), I am very interested to hear, where are all the Alleggeritas now.

If someone has questions about the specs of the car, he can ask me, I try to help best as I can, because I had my hands a few times on that pearl of a car too...

Everyone talks about the GTAs (which is kind of dream for me, too), but the Giulietta Alleggerita isn't by far as well known as the GTAlleggerita. Maybe because the later Giulietta SZ had more success on race tracks?

Some information for you, who are interested:
What differs the SV Alleggerita from the SV Confortevole?

Engine bonnet, boot lid, doors, bumpers (!!) and headlight rims are aluminium.
Side windows are plexiclass with sliding panels (so there are no door panels and winding mechanism).
Some claim that the rear window is plexi too, but I am not sure (on our car it was mineralglass on the rear).
Special lightweight seats inside (not the same as the SZ!).
Missing rear seats and glove box door.
21 instead of 14 gallons fuel tank.

The result were 190lbs/85kg weight reduction.

I hope I forgot nothing...

Some pics of our ex-Giulietta (I miss her...)

The air intake was added in the late 50s when the car was a successful racer mainly in Germany and Italy. These are older pics without bumpers which were missing when my dad bought the car in 1980.





With the original and very rare aluminium bumpers 1992 on the Nürburgring



The engine which was a mix of 750/101/105 (some of you noticing the both M6 screws on the cam cover)



The original (matching number) engine to pet and admire



The interieur with the non original steering wheel (later SS/SZ style)



Greetz Clemens

[italcarguy]

AWESOME CAR!

[clemensh83]

Thanks Anthony!

I admire your beautiful GTA very much!

I was nearly buying a very cheap GTA junior instead of the GTV, but I needed a road car. So sad I couldn't afford both, one for street, one for race.
The GTA even had sliding block rear axle, small wheel arch extensions, highly modified 1300 engine (about 155 HP with diagramm), but was standing nearly 20years untouched in a garage.

I forgot to write the link about the Giulietta.

Click here

There are some more pics of the car and I wrote a part of the race history of it (in german...).

Greetz Clemens

[dretceterini]

The true lightweight giulietta veloces are now in the same price range (if not higher) than a GTA, and somewhat rarer. I guess most here would choose the GTA due to their age, plus the fact that the GTA stuff is actually easier to find than true lightweight giulietta stuff.

[Alfaman75]

Something is not completely clear to me.

Is my statement correct if I say that the ‘Allegerita’ name was not an official name for this car but that it was called just ‘Giulietta Sprint Veloce’, and that all Giulietta Sprint Veloce’s tipo 750 E with engine type 1315 are known as ‘Allegerita’s’, except for the confortevoles.

And that 600 ‘Allegerita’s’ and 200 ‘confortevoles’ were made?

Were the rear seats on all these Sprint Veloce’s (even on confortevoles?) missing?
Are you sure that the bumpers were on alloy? Can't find any confirmation for this.

[Giulia Bianca]

a friend of mine has a very nice blue one, bought in France about 6 years ago, besides some old Lancia's he also owns a 1600 GTA, 1300 GTA, Sz coda tronca and a 1900 Z so the car is in good company ;-)

[chrisgpj1c]

I have 3 Lightweights in my shop at present, and a 4th that I restored is for sale at Hairpin .
There are at least 6 cars in the UK , though none of these are racing.

Chris

[GTA246GT]

I've one SVA, ex-Jo Bonnier currently undertgoing restoration, I hope to have it ready in summer. Never driven one, but if it's close to my GTA I'm more than happy.

Rome GP
Coppa Intereuropa, Monzamore than happy.
Avus GP

All in 1956

And a lot of races in 1959-61.

See my thread "Jo Bonnier and the Giuliettas"

Ciao/ Bjorn

[clemensh83]

@ Alfaman75: I am sure, that there were alloy bumpers for the Giuliettas. You can be right, I don't know if the term Alleggerita was ever officially used by Alfa Romeo, as the first built Giulietta SVs were all Alleggeritas (AFAIK assembled by Zagato, because Bertone worked on overtime...).
There were no real rear seats on the Alleggerita, just some pillows (one of the very few parts, that lacked on our car) to seat on.

About your numbers of fabricated Giulietta SVs, I would say that there were more convortevoles than alleggeritas (series 750), but I think no one can ever tell...

The Giulietta my father owned was the very first Giulietta SV that was delivered to Germany in April 1956 to Auto König in Munich.
The first owners of our former car were the two brothers Zeller from Hammerau in Germany. Walter Zeller was a famous motobike racer (second on europe championchip on BMW RS). They collected and raced cars like Mercedes 300SL and an unique Ferrari 166.

They raced the Giulietta in the 50s with kind of semi-works assistance (1956 1000km ADAC Rennen at the Nürburgring for example)

What would be interesting. Our car had all-aluminium doors, so the skin AND the frame were aluminium. My father had a set of spare doors (the last from Alfa Romeo Frankfurt in the early 80s) with alumium skin and steel frame.

What kind of doors do your cars have?

Regards Clemens

[clemensh83]

Picture of our Ex-Giulietta #01889,
19560527, 1000km at Nürburgring, driver Kurt zeller.



Winner of 1300er class was Joakim Bonnier in a Giulietta SV.

Regards Clemens

[Subtle]

Interesting thread + +

[Alfajay]

Greetz:

The first picture you posted shows an air intake snorkel under the grille. Was that an original feature of these cars? What was it plumbed in to? The radiator, oilpan, or was there an external oil cooler as on the GTA?

[clemensh83]

Hi Alfajay!

When my dad bought the car, it had cut in its former race era a hole there, for additional radiator and oil cooling. My dad modified this, when he restored the car, to an "Aston Martin Zagato-style" air scoop. So its not original.

Greetz Clemens

[iicarJohn]

May I remind one and all that "Alleggerita" has been misspelled many times in this thread and elsewhere? It means simply "lightened" even if it has become popular to say, "lightweight". Neither term (in English or Italian) was an official term for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce when the cars were new.

There is the possibility of a car or three that might seem to be exceptions to the overall generalizations to follow, but Giulietta production from a coachbuilding standpoint (after the earliest prototypes) can be summarized as follows:

When the Giulietta Sprint (Tipo 750B) came out in 1954, the car was bodied by Bertone with their own production/design number "65" as a prefix to the body number. These have become known as "Normale" only after the fact because there was a "Veloce" version that became optional. Bertone's "65" design lasted all the way into 1963 and the Giulia Sprint series "105" ("GT") body that replaced it in production.

Even before the "Veloce" version was introduced, the Sprint had been evolving. Some variations were based on coachbuilding norms and quirks. Early cars in particular had parts made by hand or on temporary tooling that was perhaps not yet capable of forming steel? Some cars had some alloy opening panels, particularly the bonnet & boot (hood & trunk) lids and perhaps the doors at times. These would have generally been alloy skins on steel frameworks as this was a typical build feature of many Bertone cars of the time period.

The "Veloce" version of the Giulietta (Tipo 750E) was built beginning 1956 specifically to go racing head to head in the Gran Turismo category against Porsche 1300 and some very special Fiat-based cars that came from various specialty tuners. Homologation required a certain minimum production volume per year. Not all "Veloce" cars became race cars. The Veloce bodies were built also by Bertone (not Zagato), but with the production/design number "77" that became a prefix to the body numbers assigned to each of those cars. It would probably be a mistake to think that there was intent to build 600 identical cars in the series as that number was not needed. However, it proved to be a great little car and was more popular than was forseen. And, not all cars were identical in any case!

Chassis N. 01380 was the earliest "Veloce" specification car. Several similar cars were first sold April and May of 1956. This would imply that there were perhaps almost 1400 of the Tipo 750B Sprint (Normale) cars built before the Veloce version came out, but the reality was that Alfa Romeo sold many additional 750B before they sold the first 750E. So, the chassis numbers were delivered out of sequence and the Veloce became a distinct subseries, almost a series of its own ... for a time. It is not unreasonable to think that the prospective customers for these cars might have had a bit more say than normal in some specific characteristics desired? And that is before the car left Alfa Romeo's and Bertone's hands. Once the cars left, more personalization was possibile and in extreme case, full makeovers were performed by Zagato and others. This also had an effect on Alfa Romeo's decisions for future production.

Once it became clear during 1957 that special versions of the Sprint Veloce were needed in order to win races routinely, Alfa Romeo probably backed off for a while in supplying cars that could no longer be truly competitive and focused on the ready market for a faster Sprint that was not in racing form. For this, in 1958 Bertone produced a "normal" body (with some interior detail differences, at least for a time) into which would be fitted the Veloce mechanical package. It seems that Bertone added an "A" suffix to the "65" series body numbers on these cars. It is this car, still a Sprint Veloce, that has become known as "Confortevole". A Sprint Veloce with some comforts. This evolved a bit later in 1958 into a fairly homogenous production where the Sprint body (commonly referred to as "101 style") was offered with either the "Normale" or the "Veloce" engine. Our study of those cars will be complicated by the fact that it seems that Alfa Romeo became less consistent in their numbering protocols between "Veloce" and "Normale".

I have collected quite a number of Bertone numbers from personal observation and from owners, some of them who take part in the AlfaBB. Unfortunately, because the Bertone body numers are often filled with paint, there are many mis-reported numbers. That said, there is a clear pattern emerging to the bulk of the numbers collected.

Discarding a number of anomalies in the numbers reported ...

The Giulietta Sprint Bertone body numbers run from *65001* to something near *6524000* (perhaps higher?) with extra digits added when needed. Among those are the Sprint Veloce "Confortevole" cars with numbers that run roughly from *655500*A to roughly *656000*A with not all of them being "Confortevole", i.e. not all "Veloce". After this time, the Bertone body number can no longer be used as a help in identifying original Sprint Veloce cars.

Edit: I should say that *655500*A and *656000*A are examples of possibilities. neither number is reported yet and we do not know if those body numbers are normal "Sprint" (without the "A" suffix) or if they are perhaps "Confortevole" as implied by the potential number range given.

As a matter of interest, Giulia "Sprint" bodies in this same style have been identified with Bertone body numbers ranging from *6524709* to *6531134* but the range certainly begins earlier and ends slightly later.

The original series of Giulietta Sprint Veloce, beginning 1956, were numbered in the "77" series as already mentioned. The two earliest chassis AR1493*01380 and AR1493*01381 were followed by a gap of "Normale" cars and then AR1493*01430 and AR1493*01431, another gap and so on. More than 100 of these cars were offered and sold between April and July, making it clear that these were genuine GT cars that were available commercially. The Bertone body numbers for these cars run currently from *77001* to *77500* but higher numbers are possible and seem likely.

John de Boer
The Italian Car Registry

[iicarJohn]

Since Kurt Zeller's car, AR1493*01889, has been discussed in some detail on this thread, it seems appropriate to offer a few details and thoughts based on information that has been shared by others including Tito Anselmi, Lorenzo Boscarelli and Paolo Epifani. Paolo saw the car in about 2004 in Germany and identified the Bertone body number. The original engine number was AR1315*30048. The Bertone body number is *77048*. As with a good many of the early production, through 1956 anyway, the engine numbers and Bertone body numbers ran in close proximity for obvious reasons. Not always the same, however!

Although the body (77048) was built nominally by Bertone, there is always the chance that Zagato built some special doors after the fact. If there is genuine anecdotal evidence that Zagato built the doors, then that would be nice to know. However, it would not have been because of any "overtime" issues. It is not impossible that Bertone made some alloy door frames, but I would consider it unlikely. Perhaps there are clues? If the doors are skinned on Bertone pressings (presuming that Bertone was using stampings in this part of the car by this time?), then it seems likely that only Bertone would have made them. If the alloy door frames are fabricated, then anyone could have made them, Zagato included. If the car was tuned by Facetti as has been claimed, then it probably spent time in Milano for that work.

Paolo Epifani voiced the opinion after seeing the car that the so-called "original" engine did not seem to be "Veloce" to him. He has worked on a good number of them and probably should know, but the engine is very early (perhaps not all were the same?) and had apparently a lot of work done to it over the years by various tuners and restoration shops. From photos, it clearly does not have the original carburetors fitted. What else might have been changed? At that time (2004?) the car was described as having been fitted 1985 with a 101 engine for racing purposes. "Seat frames are tubular". "Optional five-speed gearbox for racing." and "Fitted with 3-shoe brakes for racing ... but original 2-shoe brakes may be available(?)." All cool stuff, but clearly not a completely original car at the time. But then, "originality" is sometimes over-emphasized?

Walter Zeller (deceased circa 1995) apparently did not remember to whom the car was sold. It reportedly turned up 1973 in germany with a "Mr. Hoben" of Bergisch Gladbach. For my files, and for eventual editing into another "Italian Car Registry" publication, I would like to learn the precise names and time periods of ownership for this car and any other similar cars out there.

John de Boer
The Italian Car Registry